Dublin's liquor license suspended for 17 days

NEW BEDFORD — The Licensing Board voted to suspend the liquor license for Dublin's Sports Bar N Grille for 17 days after a fight there last month allegedly led to a stabbing.

JONATHAN CARVALHO

NEW BEDFORD — The Licensing Board voted to suspend the liquor license for Dublin's Sports Bar N Grille for 17 days after a fight there last month allegedly led to a stabbing.

The 2-1 vote to suspend the license came Monday night after a hearing on the Feb. 3 incident. Police at the hearing said they were called in the early morning hours of that date after a 911 caller reported a fight possibly involving knives in Dublin's parking lot.

Mario Gomes, the owner of Dublin's at 1686 Acushnet Ave., told the board that a fight broke out among three women at his bar and he had his bouncers separate them and escort them out of the building. He characterized that fight as pulling hair and said the patrons were told to leave before a full-fledged fight could break out. He said that was around 1:40 a.m. on Feb. 3.

Police said they were dispatched at about 1:56 a.m. to Dublin's after the 911 call came in. They said they found no evidence of a fight inside Dublin's and said a man in the parking lot told them there had been a fight among several women but that he did not see any knives.

Officers said two men arrived at St. Luke's Hospital at about 2:06 a.m. for treatment of stab wounds which police determined may have occurred at the North End bar.

Gomes said he had closed the bar after the initial fight inside and said he did not see any fight occurring in the parking lot.

Gomes also said during the meeting that he offered to show police video footage of the bar but that his security cameras were down; he said they have been non-functioning for "a few months."

During the hearing, Licensing Board member Marcelino "Sonny" Almeida moved to suspend the liquor license of Dublin's for 17 days. He and Edmund Craig, Jr., voted in favor with chairman Steven Beauregard voting against it.

Almeida also made a motion not to require Dublin's to close earlier; that motion passed unanimously 3-0.